


Stay

by okemmelie



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Amusement Parks, Arcades, Bonfires, Falling In Love, Halloween Costumes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27302845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: Ted doesn't get attached and Bill doesn't let go. Maybe it's not too bad of a combination, after all.
Relationships: Bill/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jollllly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jollllly/gifts).



> me? once again writing billted? it's more likely than you think!
> 
> this is my halloween gift for gwen (jollllly here on ao3, go read her stuff if you haven't!) and hi gwen, i love and care you very much. i hope you enjoy this!

Sometimes CCRP Technical get calls from truly incompetent people. Sure, that sounds a bit harsh, but Ted is often the one taking these calls and he’s shocked and surprised at how many people, young and old, that he’s had to instruct to plug in their fucking printers. Unbelievable.

Other times, CCRP Technical get calls from truly troubled people who have real, actual problems with their printers or other technical devices distributed by CCRP proper. And it’s not that he loves explaining to them how to deal with it, but hey, it pays the bills.

When they get a call from an arcade in Clivesdale, Ted’s not entirely sure if they’re truly incompetent, truly troubled or truly both, but when they ask him if he can come look at it, he says yes immediately. And it’s totally not at all because that’ll allow him to leave the office and go to an arcade in the middle of the workday (yes it is, but not if Mr. Davidson asks).

Luckily, Mr. Davidson doesn’t ask. He does, however, ask Ted to bring someone with him. Bill, specifically.

Bill’s definitely not the most fun guy at the office. David from accounting is the funniest, but James from human resources is the most fun to hang around. Bill is one of the duller people at CCRP, but at least Ted’s not going with Paul so that’s a win. He can’t imagine Paul having fun at an arcade, but then again, he can’t imagine Paul having fun anywhere so maybe that’s on him (it’s not, it’s on Paul for being so fucking boring all the time).

Turns out, the guy who owns the arcade is only kind of incompetent, but at least his problems are real. Well, real for someone who doesn’t work with printers every single day. It takes Ted a total of four minutes to fix the problem and once he’s done, he asks the dude if they can stick around for a bit and try out some of the games.

Shockingly, the guy says yes.

“Ted,” Bill says in a serious tone. “It’s the middle of the work day. We don’t have time for this.”

“Bill,” Ted says in an equally serious tone. “It’s not my fault that you’re a sore loser and can’t bear the thought of being absolutely destroyed in Dance Dance Revolution by your beloved co-worker.”

He watches as Bill’s eyes narrow. His thinking face. Well, actually Ted doesn’t know Bill enough to confirm that’s the case, but he just guesses because he likes to assume things about people that he hasn’t taken the time to get to know.

“Fine. But only one game.”

One game turns to five game turns to diverging to other games because apparently Bill manages to realize that life can be fun sometimes. And answering the phone at a tech company for people who ask the same questions over and over and over again is far less fun than hanging out at an arcade when your boss is, quite frankly, dumb enough to believe that fixing a fucking printer could take three hours.

Ted learns far more about Bill in those three hours than he’s ever bothered to before. Firstly, Bill is way too kind for his own good. Secondly, Bill is way too kind for  _ Ted’s  _ good, but that’s something he can repress so that’s not going to be an issue at all. Thirdly, back when Hatchetfield had an arcade of its own, Bill held the first place on the Dance Dance Revolution scoreboard for four years straight and in the end, it was Ted who got absolutely destroyed instead.

Next time Bill and Ted end up hanging out alone is on yet another outing Mr. Davidson sends Ted on. This time, Ted asks if he can bring Bill and he gets a ‘go for it’, so he does.

This time, they’re not leaving Hatchetfield but they’re still going somewhere fun. Watcher World, Hatchetfield’s only run-down amusement park (well, also Hatchetfield’s only amusement park, but that’s not nearly as fun of a perspective in Ted’s opinion).

“Did you know,” Bill starts on the way there. “That Watcher World has the tallest rollercoaster in the whole Midwest?”

Ted shakes his head. “Nah. Is this something you’re making up to impress and/or scare me or something you just happen to know? If so, why the fuck do you keep track of that information?”

A chuckle escapes Bill’s lips. “Well, I once wanted to take Alice here so I looked up all sorts of fun facts about it so I could tell her when we went,” he says, his tone bittersweet. “We had plans to go, but then her girlfriend decided to throw a party at her parents’ lake house. And she told me there was going to be a jet ski and a keg and, well, her girlfriend. So we cancelled.”

“That sucks, man.” Ted probably would have chosen the lake house (obviously, there’s jet ski and a keg), but he supposes he understands the concept of wanting to spend time with your daughter. Was Alice even his daughter? He honestly didn’t know enough about Bill to tell. “Who’s Alice again?”

“My daughter. She’s eighteen and she lives in Clivesdale now, with her mother and the man she left me for.”

“Man, fuck Clivesdale.”

“Heck ‘em!” Bill says with more volume than his usual tone. Ted can’t help it but to laugh at that (seriously, Bill’s a grown-ass man who says heck, how is he supposed to just not laugh). “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Ted can say ‘nothing’ as many times as he wants, but it doesn’t work when he’s also still laughing. It earns him a playful shoulder push from Bill and he figures he kind of deserved that so he doesn’t complain.

Once again, Bill and Ted face a problem that doesn’t take too long to fix. Sure, this one is a twenty minute job, but that’s really nothing in the big picture and Ted’s convinced Mr. Davidson that the reason he always takes longer on his outings is because he’s extra careful: That’s how he got his own office and why he’s the one who drives out to fix stuff.

When Bill doesn’t immediately pull him back towards the car, a smile spreads on Ted’s lips, to which Bill asks him: “What are you smiling about?”

“You’re not leaving,” Ted says.

Bill nods. “Well, I figured you’d do your thing and convince me to go on one of these rides with you and well, why not skip the argument and just get it over with?”

Ted rolls his eyes playfully. “Actually, I was going to suggest we head straight back to the office, but I guess we can do  _ just one ride  _ if that’ll make you happy.

Once again, he gets a playful shove from Bill and once again, he laughs. “Fine. We can leave. I don’t care, I just figured you’d want to stay and I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“No no, Billy-boy. You obviously want to go on a ride and I’m not going to take that away from you. Which one do you pick?”

Bill looks around for a second, then sighs and looks back up on Ted. “The Tear-Jerker.”

The Tear-Jerker, as it turns out, is the ride Bill talked about earlier; the tallest one in the Midwest. That’s a bit worrying. Ted isn’t exactly scared of heights, but he isn’t overly fond of them either. But whatever. If it’s what Bill wants, it’s what they’re doing.

They get on a ride together and make their way towards the top. Once they get there, Bill tells Ted that they’re 425 feet in the air and a voice over the radio tells them that they’re having technical difficulties; but those will be fixed shortly and they’ll be able to enjoy the rest of their ride in peace.

“Here’s a fun fact for you: My buddy, Paul, told me that someone once died on this ride. They had a pre-existing heart condition, but still…” Bill pauses and Ted watches as his thinking face, as he’s so carefully named it, makes its return. “I don’t know why I said  _ ‘my buddy, Paul’. _ You know him as well as I do. It’s the one at the office, Paul Matthews.”

Ted shakes his head, but there’s just the hint of a smile on his lips. “Thank you for specifying, champ. Here’s a fun tip for  _ you: _ Maybe don’t come with your  _ ‘somebody died on this exact ride’ _ fun fact while you’re currently stuck 425 feet up in the air and the ride is experiencing technical difficulties.”

Bill blushes. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ted tells him and places a hand on Bill’s shoulder to really drive that fact through, but as he does the ride starts to move again and Ted very quickly finds out that maybe he dislikes rollercoasters a lot less than he remembered. It’s not until they make it all the way down that he notices that he’s clinging desperately onto Bill’s hand. He quickly takes his hand back and they get off the ride, silently agreeing not to acknowledge it.

Once again, one ride turns to plenty more; they don’t go on the Tear-Jerker again, but they  _ do  _ stop by the Eye-Drop and find out they both enjoy it, so they take it once more.

“Wait here,” Bill tells him once they’ve finished their second Eye-Drop ride. “I’m going to go pick us up some candy floss. Candy floss and amusement parks go hand in hand, after all.”

“Knock yourself out, Billy-boy.” Ted winks at him and he watches as Bill blushes, then quickly turns around and starts walking away.

It’s a bit odd that Bill insists on walking off alone, but Ted doesn’t mind. While he’s gone, Ted goes to the gift-shop next to the Tear-Drop and picks up two t-shirts, both reading  _ ‘I survived the Tear-Jerker and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’. _ What can he say, he enjoys a good souvenir. He hides them in his backpack.

Not long after, Bill returns holding two candy flosses, one pink and one blue, and balancing two ugly hats on his head; they both have a large yellow eye with furry purple eyelids on them. “Which one do you want?” He asks, referring to the candy flosses, and Ted picks the blue one. Bill also hands him one of the hats and Ted puts it on because, once again, he enjoys a good souvenir (which somehow also includes a bad one, but since he can make the rules it doesn’t matter).

Once they’re done eating their candy floss, Bill drags Ted to a photo booth. Ted insists on pulling the t-shirts out of his bag before they go in there. He got them in the same size and Bill’s is a bit too big for him, but it’s a look that Ted doesn’t mind.

Their photos are by no means perfect; they’re a bit (a lot) awkward, but Ted appreciates them anyway. They cut the photo strip in half and keep one half each. When they make their way back to the office, they both reluctantly put the hats and t-shirts away so no one notices that they did more than just fix some stuff.

Ted asking for Bill to come along for his outing becomes such a regular thing that Mr. Davidson starts saying  _ ‘I assume you’ll be bringing Bill along?’ _ and then all Ted has to do is nod.

It’s far from often they get to go somewhere fun like an arcade or an amusement park, but often they’ll go to a nice café or coffee shop afterwards and grab something to eat and/or drink. It’s a nice little tradition and one time, they even go back to the arcade and Bill beats Ted in Dance Dance Revolution once again.

They don’t really talk outside of work and while Ted sometimes wishes they did, he also knows that’s a recipe for disaster. Yes, he has a reputation of, rather shittily, hitting on everyone he gets his eyes on and for jerking off in the office, but he also has a history of getting too attached (that doesn’t make his reputation less true, however, but he’s proud and also doesn’t care what others think of him).

But Bill is handsome and too nice to him and such a joy to be around. If they start hanging out outside of work, Ted’s going to have to admit that he’s got a major crush on Bill to himself and he’d rather not face that, even if it means turning Bill’s texts down.

He allows himself to enjoy a post-work beer with Bill every Friday when lots of people form the office goes to a near-by bar to celebrate the weekend, but the fact that he’s started dedicating all his time there talking to Bill is worrying.

One Friday, the office makes slightly bigger plans. They’re going to go to the beach and have a bonfire. Fire and beers might not be the best combination, but they’re all grown adults; they’re responsible and allowed to do whatever they want.

Ted isn’t planning on going, but Bill pulls these puppy dog eyes and he has no choice. And sure, in reality Bill doesn’t pull puppy dog eyes, but he does look at Ted when it’s brought up and sadly, Ted’s already deep enough in it to decide on the spot to go anyway.

The fire is not the most impressive thing Ted’s ever seen, in fact it’s a lot too small for his liking. But it’s whatever, because he’s sitting on a log next to Bill and flirting with him shittily, but not the same brand of shitty that everyone else at the office gets.

It’s not morally shitty, but rather it’s bad shitty. Not to get overly specific, but it’s the kind of flirting that someone who hasn’t allowed himself to be emotionally vulnerable for sixteen years and thus doesn’t know how to pull off successfully would get himself wrapped up in.

Ted doesn’t know if Bill flirts back because at the end of the day, Bill – unlike Ted – is a nice guy and Ted hasn’t really experienced what it’s like when someone genuinely flirts back. Also, not to be judgemental or anything, but Bill’s been married since college; he’s pretty sure that in the scenario that Bill  _ is  _ flirting back, he too doesn’t know how to.

_ Whatever, _ Ted tells himself. He’s just going to stop having a crush on Bill right then and there. He can do that. But then Bill says he’s cold and it’s not until Ted gets back home without his jacket that he realizes that maybe he’s wrong and can’t just stop having a crush on him.  _ Dammit! _

October rolls around and for some reason, CCRP Technical never has Christmas parties because Mr. Davidson prefers costume parties; and Halloween is a better excuse to throw one of those, so that’s what ends up happening every year.

Usually Ted attends, because drinks lowers people’s standards and that makes for easier hookups. Also, sometimes he hits a local bar after and there’s always at least one person who wore one of those sexy costumes and he’s a simple man who enjoys simple pleasures.

This time, he goes because Bill starts talking about the kind of costume that he wants to wear and, well, that means Bill will be going. He and his ex-wife got invited to a pirate-themed wedding by one of their college friends a few years ago, Bill tells him, so he has one of those frilly fancy coats that pirate captains sometimes wear and he’s going to re-do his success.

And honestly? Ted would like to see it. It’s not hot in the revealing kind of way, but hot in the well-put together and it being Bill kind of way.

Ted usually wears cheap and easy costumes but in order to put a little more effort in (for no reason in particular and certainly not for Bill), he browses the internet for a bit and settles on a Han Solo costume, because Han Solo is hot.

Sure, he’s never watched Star Wars, but hopefully that won’t be an issue.

When he arrives, the music is just a little bit too loud and the food is just a little bit too bland, which honestly he should have expected. Bill already let him know that he’d be late (last dinner with Alice this time ‘round, then he had to go drop her off at the bus and go back to get in costume), so the first two hours of the event isn’t exciting in any sense of the word.

He doesn’t notice when Bill arrives, but he does notice when Bill taps him on the shoulder. He turns around and his jaw nearly drops when he looks at Bill in his costume. He also forgets how to speak for a second.

It makes Bill smile. “You okay there, Spankoffski?”

“Yeah,” Ted chuckles. “It’s just… you look, uhh– wow.”

Bill looks down and thank fucking god, because Ted can feel his cheeks heating up and he’s not ready to face Bill in that state quite yet. “Thank you,” he says, looking up after another second or so. “As do you.”

Yeah. He’s definitely blushing.  _ Fuck. _ No one here can see him blush (well, they can but he doesn’t want them to), so he turns his face away from the party. “Thank you.”

Bill steps around him so they’re face to face once again. “Are you… blushing?”

“Shut up.”

“No, I think it’s really cute. Don’t worry about it.”

“Cute?”  _ Cute?  _ Ted Spankoffski doesn’t do cute. He does sexy and charming with his pure sexual charisma, but he doesn’t do  _ cute.  _ Cute is for people like Bill, people who are nice and worthy of love and highly kissable. “Please.”

“What?” Bill says, raising an eyebrow. “I think you’re cute.”

“Well, you’re wrong,” Ted tells him. “You, on the other hand.  _ You  _ are cute.”

Now it’s Bill’s turn to blush and thank  _ fuck  _ Ted isn’t the only one. But also not thank fuck, because it’s definitely not good for these feelings he’s desperately trying to push into that locked box in his heart he never touches.

Whatever’s between them, they both refuse to acknowledge it. They do, however, spend the rest of the evening off in a corner chatting with each other and having the occasional drink.

Bill’s much worse at handling his liquor than Ted is so by the time they have to walk home, Ted decides to take care of Bill by making sure he gets home properly. Bill slings his arm over Ted’s shoulder and Ted wraps his arm around Bill’s waist and just like that, they’re off into the night. It’s the first time Ted’s at Bill’s place and while his plan is to just put Bill to bed then, that changes rather quickly.

“Hey Ted?” Bill asks in his drunken state.

Ted sits down on the bed next to him. “What’s up?”

Something grabs his hand; it’s Bill’s hand. “Stay. Stay the night, please. I know you live on the other side of to–”

“That doesn’t matter, I’m fine. I can make my way home.”

Bill looks at Ted for a moment, a somehow comfortable silence filling the room (Ted’s used to silence being something that you have to drown out by saying dumb things to make it feel better). “I know that, but I’d really like you to stay. I’d really like to wake up to your face in the morning. I’d really like it if we could spend time outside of work. I’d really like y– wait, that doesn’t work. I really like you.”

Ted breathes air out his nose. He’s not sure it’s a happy noise. “You’re drunk,” he says.

It only makes Bill grab his hand even harder. “Doesn’t make it less true. I’ve not been happy with my life for a long time, but somehow you came along and changed that. Please. Stay the night.”

How are you supposed to reply to that? He sighs. After a while, he relents. “Fine.”

Bill smiles and gives his hand a squeeze, much softer this time. “Thank you.”

Ted helps Bill out of his costume and puts him to bed before getting out of his own. And Bill tells him it’s alright if he sleeps next to him; his bed is already big and the couch is uncomfortable. Ted agrees. How can he not?

When he lays down, Bill swings a leg over his under the covers and places a hand on the side of his neck before moving slightly closer. “Kiss me?” He asks, already leaning in for it.

It takes everything in him to stop Bill, but he manages. “Maybe tomorrow. When we’ve talked about all this.”

Bill frowns about it and Ted is a weak man who’s fallen desperately for someone who’s somehow managed to get him into his bed without Ted even really noticing that’s what was happening. So they share a messy, drunken kiss.

One turns into three turns into too many too count, and somehow they end up falling asleep all tangled up in each other. And Bill gets his wish, because Ted’s still there when he wakes up.

Part of Ted fears that Bill now has nothing but regret for the time they’ve spent together and the kisses they’ve shared. It’s often like that, after all. People don’t really tend to fall for people like Ted.

But no. Bill smiles at the sight of Ted’s face. He reaches out to put a hand on Ted’s cheek, caressing it for a moment before pulling Ted in for a kiss. He supposes he can get used to that.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! hmu on tumblr @krayonders


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